Abstract
Objective
Few studies have addressed the practice of chiropractic care of children in Europe.
No systematic classification of conditions currently exists in chiropractic pediatrics.
The objective of this study was to investigate characteristics of clinical chiropractic
practice, including the age of pediatric patients, the number of reports of negative
side effects (NSEs), the opinions of doctors of chiropractic on treatment options
by patient age groups, the conditions seen and the number of treatment sessions delivered
by conditions and by patient age.
Methods
An Internet cross-sectional survey was conducted in 20 European countries with 4109
doctors of chiropractic invited to reply. The 19 national associations belonging to
the European Chiropractic Union and the Danish Chiropractic Association were asked
to participate. Respondents were asked to self-report characteristics of their practices.
Results
Of the 956 (23.3%) participating chiropractors, 921 reported 19821 pediatric patients per month. Children represented 8.1% of chiropractors' total
patient load over the last year. A total of 557 (534 mild, 23 moderate, and 0 severe)
negative (adverse) side effects were reported for an estimated incidence of 0.23%.
On the given treatment statements, chiropractors reported varying agreement and disagreement
rates based on patient age. The 8309 answers on conditions were grouped into skeletal
(57.0%), neurologic (23.7%), gastrointestinal (12.4%), infection (3.5%), genitourinary
(1.5%), immune (1.4%), and miscellaneous conditions (0.5%). The number of treatment
sessions delivered varied according to the condition and the patient age.
Conclusion
This study showed that European chiropractors are active in the care of pediatric
patients. Reported conditions were mainly skeletal and neurologic complaints. In this
survey, no severe NSEs were reported, and mild NSEs were infrequent.
Key Indexing Terms
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 24, 2012
Accepted:
December 10,
2011
Received in revised form:
November 1,
2011
Received:
December 20,
2010
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 National University of Health Sciences. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
